Student support
Whether you are heading off to university straight from school or college, or returning to education as a mature student, we want to ensure your experience is positive from the outset. At St George’s, you’ll be welcomed by a multicultural student and staff body of different ages, ethnicities, nationalities and backgrounds, all with one thing in common – an interest in healthcare, science and medicine.
Students frequently tell us they greatly appreciate the diversity of our student and staff body, as well as the patients who access healthcare services in the borough of Wandsworth. The University attracts both school leavers as well as a ‘mature’ students, aged 21 or over when they start; many have family and caring responsibilities.
We offer a full range of academic support and student services across all institutes, departments and faculties, some of which are listed below. We take pride in offering a transformative educational experience underpinned by cooperation and collaboration between staff and students. Our innovative Student-Staff Partnership Grants (SSPGs), for example, provide funding for small projects led jointly by students and staff. Previous projects involving our students have included the creation of a handbook to highlight the often different presentation of clinical signs on black and brown skin, as well as a series of video profiles of doctors and healthcare professionals in different specialities at various stages of their careers.
Personal tutor
On arrival, you will be allocated a personal tutor – someone with whom you can have regular contact, who you ask questions and discuss problems with, both academic and personal. The main purpose of a personal tutor is to monitor your progress, pick up and help you resolve any problems, whether academic or welfare related. Even if they don’t have the answer they will point you in the right direction towards the best people to deal with specific problems.
Induction programme
Within your first week at St George’s, you’ll take part in an induction programme to help with your orientation and introduce you to various study skills, including interprofessional learning and use of the Anatomy suite. Additional sessions provide advice and guidance about the Registry, Students’ Union, personal tutor system, safety, occupational health and sexual health awareness.
Academic staff support
The senior leadership team (course director, deputy, assessment and year leads) meet regularly with year representatives, and also arrange drop in/FAQ sessions where needed, in addition to being contactable directly as with all staff.
We have a wide variety of support resources, including close academic review and support from the Course Team, so that students who are experiencing challenges or difficulty can be proactively supported by the academic development centre, and other appropriate support services or reasonable adjustments.
Clinical Teaching Fellows
Clinical Teaching Fellows (CTFs) are fully qualified junior doctors, who support the delivery of teaching within St George's, University of London and St George’s Hospital. They are also employed at many of our partner sites, including Ashford and St Peter’s, Croydon, Epsom and St Helier, East Surrey, Kingston, and Springfield hospitals.
Mums and dads scheme
‘Mums and dads’ is a buddy scheme organised by the Students’ Union. Every fresher (first year student) has the choice of being assigned a ‘parent’ from the year above in their respective course. The returning student then acts as a ‘go to’ for advice about courses and university life, providing an additional support system during your first year, both academically and socially. They have been in your position and know the struggles of starting university; they also know all of the best pubs, clubs, restaurants, gyms and will help introduce you to your new St George’s family.
Student Life Centre
Our Student Centre team can help you with almost any aspect of student life: finances, accommodation, exams and assessment, academic procedures, admissions, international queries, careers, disability and wellbeing, even finding your way around – whatever it takes to make you feel at home.
Careers service
Our careers service works to support current students and recent graduates to find and maintain a rewarding and successful career. As well as general workshops on topics such as writing a CV and developing interview skills, the service works with careers tutors from each course area to ensure there are careers activities specific to your programmes and future profession. You will also be able to book a one-to-one appointment with a careers consultant to discuss all aspects of careers and employability. This might include investigating options and making career decisions, gaining advice and guidance on where to look for jobs, CV and application checking, or booking in for a practice interview.
Over and above central careers support, the MBBS team has collated a range of targeted medicine resources for our students, including prompts for personal tutors, careers sessions in every year of the programme, a dedicated area of our virtual learning environment with tips on expanding and developing skills beyond the core curriculum, and ‘careers fair’ with input from a broad range of specialities available to all students.